


to fall downwards and rust

by Perks



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Little Red Riding Hood, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-19 03:16:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2372513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perks/pseuds/Perks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>red riding hood au where steve rogers lives in the tiny village of daggorhorn and is in love with bucky, the mysterious town woodcutter, but arranged to marry peggy. the village has a truce with a werewolf, where they put out monthly animal sacrifices in exchange for the werewolf leaving the townspeople alone, but the truce is suddenly broken when the wolf kills sharon carter. the town calls upon a famed werewolf hunter, natasha romanov, to help kill the creature, but the villagers become overcome with terror when she warns them that the werewolf, who takes a human form by day, could be any one of them. as more and more people are killed, steve begins to suspect that the werewolf is someone close to him...and things only get worse from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It had not always been peaceful within the small village of Daggorhorn, he knew; there had been a time before the truce, when the wolf ran wild, free to sink its long, sharp fangs into any victim it chose, and the villagers were terrified. They hardly dared to leave their houses in those times, always on edge, and told their little ones warnings wrapped up in bedtime stories about what would happen if they were careless at night, especially during a blood moon.

But eventually, some brave soul had stepped forward and made a truce with the beast: a pact where, in exchange for a monthly animal sacrifice, the werewolf would cease its attacks on the villagers. To everyone’s immense relief, the attacks stopped at the end of that month. The werewolf had accepted the deal.

And so it had been for years to come; the tense agreement between Daggerhorn and its werewolf loosened until it became peace, and was tense no longer. Families whose turn it was to present the monthly sacrifice slowly grew desensitized to it, reassuring themselves that it was better to let the wolf take a cow or a couple of goats every month than a few of their villagers—after all, its victims could have been their _children_ , and what was a cow or two compared to the safety of their family?

Steve Rogers’ parents, Sarah and Joseph, were one such family, at least until Joseph died of alcoholism. Steve was still a child then, and Sarah only had to look at her little boy to remind herself that she would do everything in her power to keep him safe, even at the cost of her own happiness. _You’re all he has left_ , her conscience reasoned (but biting her tongue would not stop her from thinking, _and he’s all that I have left_ ).

This desire to keep her son safe, coupled with the fact that she wanted more than anything else for her son to be happy, was what drove Sarah Rogers to arrange a marriage for Steve, to a young girl in the village by the name of Peggy Carter. Steve, being the person that he was, understood perfectly that this was a discreet way for him to escape Daggorhorn, and he loved his mother fiercely for it. But despite the fact that he held no animosity towards Peggy in the slightest—on the contrary, he was actually quite fond of her—the idea of marrying for a reason other than love (in this case, escape) just didn’t sit right with him, and he spent a lot of his time trying to figure out a way to get out of it.

It was a few weeks after the plan for the engagement was announced that James Barnes and his father came to Daggorhorn, and Steve’s life was changed forever.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple of days into preparing for Daggorhorn’s annual Blood Moon festival (which was, in Steve’s opinion, rather morbid—the fact that they celebrated the wolf not killing anyone—but it made the villagers happy, so he mostly just talked about it to his friend Sam, who agreed), there were whispers circling around that a mysterious young man had arrived in the village, accompanied by his father, who apparently had some dark, secret history no one knew much about, which required he and his son to never stay in one place for too long. Sam had told Steve that he’d overheard his parents saying the boy’s father, George Barnes, had lived in Daggorhorn once many years ago, and that this was where his son had been born, but something had happened and he’d suddenly left, so why was he back now?

It was a crisp fall morning; Steve, Sam, Peggy, and some of the other young people of the village were helping to set up for the festival by raking the grass fields into rows, under the watchful eye of Nick Fury, the village authority. Due to his friend’s weak physique and small figure, Sam was instructed to keep an eye on Steve and make sure he didn’t push himself past his physical limits. “After all, he may later be needed for something more important than simple farm work,” Fury had said in his traditional cryptic manner, and then proceeded to walk away, leaving Sam slightly dazed. Despite the ominous warning, Sam was happy to keep watch over his friend, especially since he did worry about Steve’s health. What was strange, though, was that sometimes, when Steve was sick and Sam would go visit him, Steve wouldn’t really _see_ Sam; he did know that someone was there by his bedside, but instead of recognizing that it was Sam, he would talk to someone named Bucky. “It’s okay, Buck,” Steve would say weakly, sweating under his bedclothes while simultaneously shivering like he was freezing, “‘m doing fine, quit worrying about me. I’ll be right as rain soon, just you wait.” Sam would smile and nod—after all, what else was he supposed to do?—but it made him uneasy, deep down. Who was this Bucky, and how did Steve know him? And most importantly, was Bucky who Steve really saw every time he looked at Sam?

The sound of rickety wagon wheels on the dirt path jolted Sam out of his daydreams, and he quickly resumed his work before Fury saw him dawdling. What he didn’t see, however, were the two inhabitants of the wagon, and one of them just so happened to be the stranger that Steve had been talking about in his fever dreams. The wagon pulled forward for a few moments before slowing, and James Barnes and his father dismounted, a few small bags clenched in their fists.

At that moment, Steve turned around with a grin on his face, about to tell Sam a joke, but his eyes caught the shape of his past best friend, and the grin faded from his lips and his voice died in his throat. “Bucky?” he whispered in disbelief. _Could that be him? What is he doing here? I thought they were never coming back…_ Steve’s thoughts whirled like dust in a storm. Almost without thinking, he took a few steps forward, like he couldn’t believe his eyes; and really, who could blame him? It had been fourteen years since they’d seen each other, after all; the two had been inseparable as children, at least until George Barnes had packed everything and left, not even allowing his son to say goodbye to Steve or explain to the heartbroken seven-year-old why they were leaving. _And now they’re back? Why? And…_ Steve swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. _Does he still remember me? Are we going to pick back up right where we left off?_ Hope bloomed in Steve’s chest at the thought, and he increased his stride, getting closer and closer until he could almost reach out a hand and touch his friend. “Bucky?” he called out, a little hoarsely.

The figure in front of him turned around. “Steve?” he whispered, and at once Steve knew. His breath caught in his throat. _He does remember._

“Looks like you haven’t forgotten me after all,” Steve replied, a relieved laugh escaping from his lips.

“Of course not, Stevie,” Bucky said, smiling that crooked smile of his that Steve had always loved, and oh. _Oh_. “How could I?”

Steve inhaled sharply at the words. He could have sworn he felt his heartbeat quickening as well. Had it been like this when they were younger? Had Steve always felt this way and just thought of it as friendly, brotherly affection? His eyes scanned Bucky’s face, searching for answers, but he found none. He ducked his head shyly and asked, “Do you think we’ll have to get to know each other all over again? It’s been such a long time.”

Bucky’s eyes didn’t leave Steve’s face as he leaned in to whisper in Steve’s ear. He paused and smirked, sending chills down Steve’s spine. “No,” he said, his voice low and gravelly, “I think you’ll agree that we know each other quite well already.” He walked off to stand beside his father, leaving Steve standing in the middle of the field, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come chat with me (about this fic, steve/bucky, or whatever else you'd like) at my [tumblr](http://www.ohbuckys.tumblr.com/)!

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter is mostly just setting things up! i have a bit more already written, but hopefully i'll get enough positive feedback & motivation to continue! come chat with me about this au [here](http://www.ohbuckys.tumblr.com/), and [here's](http://www.ohbuckys.tumblr.com/tagged/rrh-au) my fic tag!


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